Bills seem to be poised for playoff run

On the checklist of items needed to reverse the fortunes of a losing NFL franchise, the Bills seem to have almost every box marked.

A talented young quarterback. Stability on the coaching staff. Good players. Confidence. And some good fortune, too.

All of those factors have played a part in the Bills' 4-0 start, which has served notice that the AFC East division will be more than the Pats and the Patsies this season.

"It is a good group of guys," Bills coach Dick Jauron said of his team.. "You got to have talent. You got to work hard. You got to have some luck. Hopefully, we have all three and we'll stay lucky."

Jauron has been through such a season before. He led the Bears to a 13-3 record in 2001, a year when talent and luck combined to form a magical season. Just four games into this season, he's not ready to predict such a season for his Bills.

"At the moment, I said it's hard for me to compare," he said. "I think about the 2001 Bears, I'm thinking looking back at the whole picture of a whole year, it was a remarkable year.

"We're early here."

The Bills are blowing through the NFC West, having pummeled both Seattle and St. Louis. The Cardinals hope they aren't next when the teams meet Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The Bills are winning the close games, too. They scored 17 points in the final eight minutes to beat the Raiders by one. And they trailed the Jaguars by six in the final quarter before winning 20-16.

A stifling defense and quarterback Trent Edwards are major reasons for the fast start. Edwards, a third-round pick out of Stanford last year, has been unflappable, playing with a maturity beyond his years.

Edwards gives partial credit to a rigorous off-season program that started in January. He added weight, improved his stamina and strengthened his shoulders by swimming almost every day.

"When I started in mid- to late January, I could do maybe a couple of laps," Edwards said. "By the end of March, middle of April, I was doing a full, 30-lap workout.

"It's really a minor thing but a lot of it, too, was mental. It just cleared my head a little bit. You have your own time in the pool just to relax and kind of get all your stress out from a long rookie season."

He's looked stress free all year. His overall statistics aren't mind boggling - a 65.5 percent completion rate, four touchdowns, two interceptions and a 93.5 rating. But he plays his best when needed the most.

In the fourth quarter, he's completed 77.1 percent of his passes, thrown for three touchdowns and has a passer rating of 136.6.

"For some reason or another it seems like we're sitting there on the sideline late in the game and losing and it doesn't feel like we're pressing," Edwards said. "I don't know what it is, whether we learned something from last season, or whether something this off-season went right. It just seems like there is a confidence that guys have on the offense and defensive side, and even special teams. It just seems like we know that we have plays in our playbook that can win a football game."

The Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999, but that appears where they're headed. They are 4-0 for the first time since 1992.

The record doesn't surprise Jauron. After all, he said, if you don't believe you can win, you probably can't. But he also knows the Bills have enjoyed some good fortune so far.

"From a year ago, we're a better football team," he said. "We've been relatively healthy. And then we've gotten some luck. You need all those things to have any kind of success."